Abstract
Crustaceans, like most mineralized invertebrates, adopted calcium carbonate mineralization for bulk skeleton reinforcement. Here, we show that a major part of the crustacean class Malacostraca (which includes lobsters, crayfishes, prawns and shrimps) shifted toward the formation of calcium phosphate as the main mineral at specified locations of the mandibular teeth. In these structures, calcium phosphate is not merely co-precipitated with the bulk calcium carbonate but rather creates specialized structures in which a layer of calcium phosphate, frequently in the form of crystalline fluorapatite, is mounted over a calcareous “jaw”. From a functional perspective, the co-existence of carbonate and phosphate mineralization demonstrates a biomineralization system that provides a versatile route to control the physico-chemical properties of skeletal elements. This system enables the deposition of amorphous calcium carbonate, amorphous calcium phosphate, calcite and apatite at various skeletal locations, as well as combinations of these minerals, to form graded composites materials. This study demonstrates the widespread occurrence of the dual mineralization strategy in the Malacostraca, suggesting that in terms of evolution, this feature of phosphatic teeth did not evolve independently in the different groups but rather represents an early common trait.
Highlights
Biomineralization in the major animal phyla began during the Cambrian explosion that occurred approximately 525 Myr ago
The present study suggests that calcium phosphate (CaP) biomineralization is widely employed in crustacean teeth
In light of the present study, and previous studies[16,17,25], it seems that phosphate is not merely a co-precipitate of the calcium carbonate system but rather that calcium phosphate is deposited in a controllable mode that probably serves specific mechanical and chemical functions
Summary
Biomineralization in the major animal phyla began during the Cambrian explosion that occurred approximately 525 Myr ago. The minerals used by most animals for skeletal reinforcement were calcium salts; either calcium phosphate (CaP) or calcium carbonate. As a result, these two minerals became the most important bioinorganic materials throughout the Phanerozoic period until present times, both in terms of phylogenetic distribution and in terms of biomineral quantities[1]. Reports of crustaceans containing variable amounts of phosphorous within their carbonate skeletons are known[1,6,7,8,9,10,11]. A similar instance of large, oriented, apatite crystal was reported for the raptorial appendage of a mantis shrimp[17,18]
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